Soccer Salaries – How much do soccer players make?

Soccer Salaries

Soccer salaries exceed millions of dollars, pounds, yen and euro annually. Professional soccer players are some of the highest paid athletes of any sport in the world. In fact, as of May, 2012, in the top 5 highest paying teams of any sport in the world, the top four are soccer (football) teams. Two are from La Liga in Spain and Serie A in Italy, and two are from the English Premier League (aka: Barclay’s Premier League or EPL) in England. Rounding out the top 5 highest paying athletic teams in the world are the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA (National Basketball Association).

Now, these numbers are strictly based on the salary that the club (team management) pays it’s players. These figures do not take into account endorsements or other sources of income that usually follow world renowned athletes. When you take those numbers into account, soccer players fall to the #3 and #4 spots, and when you include individual sports such as golf, tennis and boxing, soccer players fall to 8th and 9th in the top 10. The great thing about endorsement income though, is that you don’t have to be particularity good at your sport to earn big money. David Beckham, who is now in the twilight of his career and takes up the #8 spot on Forbes Highest Paid Athletes list, earns a meager $9 million annually from the LA Galaxy, but makes an additional $37 million in endorsements from such companies as Burger King and Samsung.

FC Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain) has the highest payroll of any team, in any sport, anywhere in the world, at $217,014,221 per year, and $166,934 per player per week.

Getting Paid to Play

The highest paying athletic team in the world is FC Barcelona and has an average salary of $8,680,569 a year, with each player earning about $166,934 a WEEK!

Second in line is AC Milan, from Italian professional league Serie A. It’s interesting to note that the New York Yankees and AC Milan have nearly identical payrolls, but the AC Milan players have higher individual salaries than the Yankees players.

As a club, it has members that pay annual fees to belong. Current membership is about 155,000, called “socis” or, “socios” (social members ) who each pay up to €140 annually for the privilege. The club has a board of directors that governs the club, and the members elect a president of the board every four years. The annual budget of the club is approved by randomly selected members who are appointed to serve as delegates to the general assembly. Most Spanish clubs, including Real Madrid, are run in the same manner.

Ownership

What Do You Get for the Money?

One of the most successful soccer clubs in Italian history, AC Milan have won a total of 29 major trophies. AC Milan is 2nd to Boca Juniors,[75] as the most successful club in the world in terms of international competitions won, with a record of 14 European trophies and four World titles. AC Milan has earned the right to place a star on its jersey in recognition of the fact that it has won at least ten scudetti. In addition, the club is permanently allowed to display a multiple-winner badge on its shirt as it has won more than five European Championship Cups.[76]

European

On the Other Hand

While these salaries seem incredible, Spain, Italy, and England are also very wealthy countries. However, Italy’s, Spain’s and England’s aren’t even the highest paying top tier leagues (at this writing – September, 2012). The Chinese Super League has stepped up it’s competition for international players to boost it’s football (soccer) influence in the world, and is enticing international players to play in their league with incredible salaries (Didier Drogba just signed a salary for $300,000 a WEEK, but it’s not without controversy) to enhance the level of local competition, and thereby improve their own national players.

On the other hand, America’s Major League Soccer has salaries that average around $50k annually, and many countries in Europe, the Caribbean, Africa and South America have clubs and leagues that are termed “professional”, but the players need other employment just to feed themselves.

Check your history – It was called “soccer” FIRST. “Football” was a general term used to reference ANY GAME played on foot, as other games were played on horseback. Soccer is an acronym for SOCiEty Rules football, differentiating it from other football games, like rugby.

http://www.forbes.com/athletes/list/
I’m sorry, but this list is legit. Messi, Ronaldo, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and some dude who I think is a boxer are the top 5 paid athletes. This list isn’t delusional, and the bro players don’t really come close to the soccer stars.

Its simply not true at all. Renaldo is the highest paid soccer player at 17.5m a year. He and Messi are far away the highest earners in their sport in the world. There is 10 Quarterbacks alone in the NFL who’s salary dwarfs that. That’s one position. There’s more than 20 players in the NBA who’s salary is higher. There’s nearly 50 baseball players with higher salaries.

As for highest payout for a team? FC Barcelona you quoted at 217m? The LA Dodgers for example, are 235 million.

Worldwide the money in futbol is huge, but individual player salaries in futbol (soccer) are simply not the highest. There are likely teams with the highest average player salaries, but that is entirely different than in which sports the highest individual salaries reside.

NBA top salaries exceed $22 mil per year, similar for NFL. MLB salaries dwarf both….and that is despite baseball’s plummeting popularity in the USA.

Im The Biggest Barcelona Fan Ever ! And My Dream Is To Be A Proffesional Soccer Player, If I Had A Chance To Be In Fc Barcelona Later In Life It Would Be A Dream Come True ! Well Im 14 And Im Hoping This Opportunity Will Come Soon.